Year to Date 2025 Hotel Performance

Hawaii hotel revenue is up by less than 1 percent over the first four months of 2024. Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR are essentially all the same as the first four months of 2024. RevPAR was up 10% on Hawaii Island, up 5% on Kauai, flat on Oahu and down 5% on Maui.

April 2025 Hotel Performance

The state had a 0.8 percentage point increase in occupancy and a 0.5% decrease in ADR resulting in an 0.6% decrease in RevPAR compared to last April. RevPAR was up 7% on Kauai, up 5% on Hawaii Island and Oahu, and down 9%Maui.

Visitor Arrivals

The state saw a 8% increase in visitors in April 2025 over last April. Oahu was up 8%, Kauai was up 9% and Hawaii Island was 1%. Maui is up 17% relative to last year but down 16% from pre-pandemic. Japanese arrivals were up 3% from last April but off 56% from 2019.

Visitor Expenditures

Visitor expenditure data was very robust for April. Like last month, this data is contrary to the hotel performance data. Visitor expenditures were up 9% but per person per day spending was flat. This was driven by a 21% increase in Oahu spending and also a 12% increase in Maui spending relative to a poor post-wildfire April last year.

Air Seats

Air Seats to Hawaii in April and for the year-to-date are flat relative to last year. For the year, Oahu is flat, Maui is down 3%, Kona is down 2% and Kauai is up 4%. International seats are down 9% year-to-date pulled down by Japan at minus 11%.

Air Seats Outlook

The outlook for air seats for the May to July 2025 period is down 2% overall compared to the same period last year. Domestic seats are down 2% while international seats are down 3%. Japan is down 6%.

State of Hawaii –  down 2%

Honolulu down 2%

Kahului down 2%

Kona down 3%

Lihue up 3%

Domestic down 2%

International down 3%

Japan down 6%

Canada down 3%

Oceania down 1%

Korea up 13%

Third-Party Hotel Management Landscape in Hawaii

There have been interesting changes in Hawaii’s third-party hotel management arena. At the 299-room Renaissance Honolulu, Highgate has been replaced by Crescent, a large mainland manager who is a newcomer to Hawaii. Meanwhile, Ben Rafter is merging Springboard into Hotel Equities, another large mainland management company. It is a testament to his abilities that Rafter will assume the CEO role of a much bigger company.

Highgate burst onto the third-party management scene in 2011 when they replaced Outrigger in the management of the Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki. Highgate was able to work more effectively with OTAs and pivot quickly as they didn’t rely so heavily on Japanese wholesale contracts. After demonstrating an ability to quickly grow top line revenue at the Courtyard, Highgate grew rapidly and has since become the largest third-party manager in Hawaii.

Before Highgate entered the market, few mainland management companies had been successful in Hawaii. We saw local management companies struggle when they did not keep up with technology and effectively manage the growth of OTAs. Meanwhile, mainland companies struggled to comprehend the distinct differences in managing in Hawaii and tried to employ the same techniques they would for mainland hotels. The unique characteristics of the Hawaii market provided local companies such as Outrigger, Aston, Marc, Castle and Aqua enough of a barrier to entry to keep mainland competition out.

As mainland competition heated up, many of Hawaii’s hotel management companies were acquired by mainland private equity and hotel management companies -- Springboard merged with Hotel Equities, Aqua Aston is owned by Marriott Vacations via their acquisition of Interval Leisure Group, and Outrigger is owned by Colorado-based KSL Resorts. Sightline, an active manager in Hawaii was acquired by PM Hotel Group.

But then again, does it really matter where the HQ is located? I suspect that if a management team that understands the nuances of operating in Hawaii and employs the most modern sales, marketing and revenue management techniques, they will be successful.

Branding Change in Waikiki

The 368-room Romer Waikiki at the Ambassador has been rebranded as The Ambassador Hotel of Waikiki, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. The property was part of Highgate's proprietary Romer Neighborhood hotels. This is an interesting change as Highgate has been fighting the trend toward big brand affiliation by running a few of their Waikiki hotels independent of brand affiliation. We suspect ownership decided they needed the greater marketing push that a big brand like Hilton can deliver.

In Memorium

It is with profound sadness that we note the passing of our beloved friend and hotel investment industry colleague, Stephen Medel. For more than a decade, Stephen helped grow Pacifica Hotels as their Vice President of Business Development. Stephen’s strategic vision, professionalism, and unwavering integrity set him apart. Yet, it was his warmth, kindness, and ever-present optimism that truly touched all of us. Our hearts go out to Carly, their children, and all who loved him during this difficult time. We have lost a remarkable friend and we will hold his memory close in our thoughts and prayers.

Data Source: Hawaii Tourism Authority

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